Greetings all, It's been a long time since I've been on here, as I haven't bought any new walkmans in a long time. I still have some walkmans in my small collection, but I find the prices sellers are asking for walkmans on eBay has gotten ridiculous. Even cheap models are being listed with three figure prices. When I started collecting, bargains could be got if you had the time and patience to search, but those days are gone. It's all three figure, and sometimes four figure prices now. Maybe it's just me, but the prices being asked have put me off collecting. So I'll just keep what I have, and keep my eyes open for that once in a lifetime bargain Cheers Minty.
Supply and demand, although I suspect many sellers think the demand is greater than it really is. However, there are still the occasional bargains to be found at Car Boot sales and in Charity shops. Of course you can't be picky about which units you find taking that approach. In contrast Digital Cameras seem to have reached a point where people are almost giving them away. Cameras that cost £ hundreds fifteen years ago going for pence (50p to be exact). I suspect the people selling them think I've got a Smartphone with more pixels. Why do I need a camera ? even if said camera has 3x Optical Zoom and a Xenon Flash, like the Sony DSC-W1 sat in front of me as I type this.
Prices are definately going up, nice entry-level units are about double what they were a year and a half ago, high-end models have really climbed, beyond what I would have guessed. We may have also reached "peak market" the gems that were tucked away have been found and put up for sale, with less barn finds going forward. When I first started looking for Marantz's there was maybe 1-3 a year, now there's 10 or so everyday, they want silly money and most don't seem to sell. Keep your eyes open, there are still a ton of bargains but I'm seeing them at the mid-range models and some of the early high-end units. You could also post a wanted thread down-below, over the years guys have gotten rid of huge collections. I've got a box of entry-level that were either given to me or part of a lot that I'd love to hand off, somebody could flip them for a nicer unit. Another place to check is the local recycler, we have a few in town that I'd visit when I was in the area (when I had the time). One guy liked me and would keep cool stuff that he'd sell to me for a few dollars and he had a little of everything, 70's stereos, Playstations, X-Boxes and sometimes boomers and portables.
hey minty, nice having you back you‘re absolutely right about prices. looks like our passion became fashion (i even chatted with a guy lately who also collects sony derrivates, such as my beloved clonemen !). heroes in movies carry walkmen and other portable units, have houses with the coolest vintage hifi etc.etc. (netflix series „mindhunter“, featuring hrough the episodes sony tcd-510, tcd-5, nakamichi 550 and sony wm-d6c). walkmen reflect a certain generation - in the 80ies the coolest folks had the coolest portable hifi, and in times of global warming and climate change it‘s easier to own and use vintage hifi gear than a vintage car...(?) a cool walkman is todays status-symbol same way as a swiss automatic chronometer allready. walkmen are state of the art right now, we have to suffer while the flow is there...
Hi minty. Yes, prices went very high. Even for very basic models they are almost always above 30 euros, when a few years back you could get some for 5. It's crazy.
I think a colleague, who is also a collector, was 100% correct when he said there is a nostalgia wave that peaks 30 to 40 years after items become common place. When I watch retro videos on YouTube it makes me feel very old when Bald men start going on about Sonic Hedgehog (or something similar) being their favourite when they were at Primary School. Once a unit gets beyond the "Grandma had one like that" stage prices will start to drop. Tube radios don't seem to be worth what they were in the 1980s.
3 days ago somebody taped a banana to the wall and sold it to a stupid "art collector"!! for $120,000 . Buyer from New York send his private jet to Miami to take the duct tape banana to his home. my point is you can always find people who will pay high prices for something that doesn't worth much. anyway, I agree that walkman prices went up but it doesn't mean whatever ridiculous sellers on Ebay asking is the right price. I have been monitoring sold walkman on ebay and yahoo japan for important walkman. I can tell the actual prices of walkmans doubled in the last 8 years. In the next 5 years: certain walkman will keep the value including TPS-L2, WM-3, DD9 Certain walkman will gain higher value including DD-100 Certain walkman will drop the value including Panasonic slim line series.
Manrizio Cattelan is the artist you are talking about, he is well known for poking fun at the establishment. No matter what artist thinks of each others work, they usually respect each others work not to destroy it. So what David Datuna did to Manrizio’s work is frowned on among artists. The work is worth what collectors are willing to pay for it, with this work what the collector is paying for is the concept and the idea of the work not the actual banana and silver tape.
Hi guys. Think i just started collecting at the right time. took advice from this forum and only bought the harder to find walkmans. I have the dd-9 dc-2 d3 d6c dd100 tps l2 wm2 f5 f10 and the limited ex chrome ex models. threw in a few choice awia and sharp tv models and i think my collection is pretty good considering i only started last year. i uploaded a pic on my hello page a while back.the dd-9 cost me £400 and at the time i felt that was decent as it is a working model with a case. To touch on the point i think the ebay sellers are a little out of hand with their pricing but dare say its a bandwagon the wheels will eventually come off!
The interesting thing is the "flavor of the day", over the years the must have units have really changed, sure there's a few must-own models but some other units have really stepped up. Of course 15 years ago some of the units were only a few years old and not as exciting as the early 80's models. Now they all feel old.....
My Big Thanks to @Boodokhan and @TooCooL4 for the side-note! I asked my Boss (she is an artist) what the heck are you talking about. Great story, and a good illustration of what is going on in the artistic world: at least this time the guys were more inventive in their PR stunt than your usual DamienHirst/Bansky marketing campaigns. Respect!
Think thats the crux of the matter. life is all about timing and guessing what will grab the imagination in that timeline. i just bought up what i felt were good deals and in the long run maybe wont appreciate too much but does not matter to me as i wont be selling them on. understand what your saying mister x. just because they are old does not necessarily make them any good or valuable. sometimes its how they are perceived and i appreciate that in a design context.
@Jorge I work for an art gallery, in fact the biggest private arts gallery in the world. One of our artists is Damien Hirst, I have seen him come in many times. So what I am saying is I have seen plenty of work by many different artists, so not many things throw me these days.
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/Sony-Walkma...293937?hash=item262ae34231:g:B90AAOSwfGpdolwc This walkman is placed for $50,000 and received 46 offers so far. I can tell most of the offers are just for 0.01 cent to irritate the guy with his stupid price.
